"The Marquis is not here?"
"Yes."
"Then where is he now?"
In the middle of the camp on the east side of the mirror lake, in the largest and most luxurious tent, a man and a woman are talking.
If Colin were here, he would immediately recognize that this half-kneeling man was the knight of the Saint Hilde family who issued an emergency call-up order to the Firefox mercenary group.
The high-spirited knight back then is now humbled.
"Master Marquis, he..." Facing the question from the woman in front of him, the knight seemed a little hesitant.
"Knight Bliss, if this question involves military orders, you don't have to say it." The woman didn't make things difficult for the knight and said softly.
This is a tall and slender woman, wearing a slightly loose snow-white fox fur coat, with beautiful golden hair hanging down from her shoulders and back. Don't dare to look closely, but can't help but indulge in it.
A layer of translucent black gauze covered her face, but the elegance and nobility that penetrated into the bone marrow could not be concealed.
Her every move has an irresistible aura.
This commanding temperament can only be possessed by a real noble.
However, the mage hat on her head and a purple staff in her hand indicate that this is a mage.
This is a bit strange.
Because, in the human empire of this world, nobles and mages, although they cannot be regarded as mortal enemies, are also two kinds of creatures that are incompatible.
The reason is simple - mages have no faith.
In the eyes of these spellcasters, only arcane truth is the eternal pursuit.
The gods are nothing but powerful mortals who have mastered the truth of arcane magic.
Therefore, in the eyes of the noble knights who believed in the Lord of Radiance, the mage group was a complete blasphemer, a heretic who should be burned to death on the stake.
However, in the Glorious Empire where the nobles held absolute power, although mages were not welcomed, they were not persecuted too much.
The reason is also very simple - mages are powerful enough.
Of course, a mage who does not believe in gods is the same as a warrior profession. The ceiling of strength is the sixth level, and there has never been a sanctuary mage.
However, it is a little different from a soldier.
Even if mages can't enter the sanctuary, they have a way to exert their strength above the sanctuary.
This method is the curse.
Sufficient preliminary preparations, expensive spell-casting materials, and an extremely terrifying price will allow the sixth-order mage to release the forbidden spell.
During the most intense period of the struggle between the Radiance Church and the Mage Council, ten sixth-level mages teamed up to release the forbidden spell—[Stars Fall].
This terrible curse once wiped a city with a population of one million off the map!
Of course, the mages also paid a very heavy price for this forbidden spell.
Seven of the ten sixth-order mages died on the spot, and the remaining three died one after another within the next five years.
However, their sacrifices also let the church and nobles deeply understand the horror of mages, and finally the two parties reached a certain degree of reconciliation.
However, the enmity left over from the millennium struggle cannot be resolved easily, coupled with the irreconcilable contradictions in beliefs, nobles and mages are basically two forces that are strangers to each other.
Therefore, at present, this female mage who can be treated respectfully by the knights of the St. Hilde family and who is suspected of being a nobleman seems particularly strange.
Knight Bliss was relieved to see that the sorceress did not continue to ask about the whereabouts of Marquis Charles.
But after hesitating for a moment, he reminded again: "Miss Vera, you'd better get away from this camp as soon as possible. It's not very safe here..."
"There is no such thing as safety on the battlefield." The female mage gave the knight a strange look, and said indifferently, "Since I have come here, I am ready to fight."
"No, you didn't understand what I meant." Bliss Knight slightly emphasized his tone, "I mean, it's very dangerous here!"
Only then did the female mage's complexion change, she stared at the half-kneeling knight in front of her through the black veil, and asked in a concentrated voice, "Knight Bliss, what is the mission the Marquis gave you?"
—————
"My task is to patrol the western camp and maintain order."
Knight Raymond said to Colin.
The two walked in the east camp, which was much quieter and more solemn than the messy west camp.
However, it was a little too quiet.
Colin frowned, looking at the situation in the camp, the uneasiness in his heart became more and more serious.
"Only patrolling and maintaining order? Didn't you go to the surrounding area to guard?"
"No." Raymond shook his head, apparently having the same doubts, "Not just our squad, I haven't seen any cavalry squad scattered to serve as sentry cavalry."
Colin frowned even tighter.
The importance of vision in war is self-evident.
But now, the camp stationed by the mirror lake has simply given up investigating the surrounding situation.
This is simply a kind of tactical suicide!
Apart from the possibility that Marquis Charles is an idiot commander, it can only show that the importance of this camp is very low.
Or, here is simply a bait!
"The main force of the army may not be in the camp for a long time." Colin looked at the too quiet east camp and asked Raymond.
"Yes, sir. Troops have been leaving the camp these days, but they have not returned."
"So, the main force of the regular army has already quietly left, and now there are only the mercenary regiments and civilians who were recruited by the emergency call-up order, and of course, there are down-and-out knights like you who have lost their lords."
"Yes, our real task is actually to watch over those miscellaneous soldiers and prevent them from running around."
"It looks like..." Colin was halfway through speaking, when he saw a group of cavalry coming out from the center of the camp.
The leading one on the white horse turned out to be a woman.
Moreover, Colin immediately recognized the knight following her, who was the one who issued an emergency call-up order to the Firefox mercenaries.
This is a big shot!
Colin, who had realized that he was in danger, walked over immediately.
Since the Marquis of Charles could not be found, finding the big man in front of him should also free him from the fate of becoming a cannon fodder bait.
However, before Colin took a few steps, he was frightened by the piercing sound of bugles.
"Woo-"
Ke Lin turned his head suddenly, and saw a flock of birds startled in the woods in the north.
Then, amidst the tremor of the earth, a thin black and white line appeared on the horizon.
The trolls are coming!
As if drops of water were dripping into a hot oil pan, the entire Jinghu camp immediately boiled.
"Enemy attack! Enemy attack!"
"Don't run around! Line up! Line up to meet the enemy!"
…
The shouts of the officers had no effect at all, and the gang of mobs gathered in the camp on the west side were completely confused under the sudden shock.
This is the evil result of not guarding the cavalry. When the enemy attacks, there is not enough time to react.
In fact, even if there is enough reaction time, it is impossible for the group of miscellaneous soldiers who are urgently recruited in this camp to resist the troll's regular army.
Colin knew very well that the next massacre would definitely be one-sided!
So, he pointed to the woman who was running eastward in a hurry, and said to Lei Meng in a deep voice:
"Come on, let's follow her closely!"
(end of this chapter)